A Special Time of Year
by Feriku
Summary: All Sherry wants to do is spend a normal Christmas with her family. But things are never normal for members of Umbrella, and when the Order gets involved, it proves to be a special Christmas indeed.
1. Chapter 1: Christmas Wishes

**A Special Time of Year**

A Silent Hill/Resident Evil Christmas crossover

December 25, 1994

Chapter 1: Christmas Wishes

Sherry Birkin opened her eyes slowly and looked at her clock briefly before staring at the ceiling. It was nine in the morning; if she went down now, she would find out exactly how this Christmas was going to be. Once, she had woken up as early as she could to run downstairs. She knew that the presents were sitting there under the tree, waiting for her.

But she had only put one thing on her Christmas list this year.

The other things would be nice, she knew. She always got nice toys and books, and there was a platter of cookies sitting on the counter. Yet all that had seemed meaningless on the last day of school before break, when the other kids had been talking about what Christmas was like at their houses. Relatives visiting, singing carols, building snowmen and having snowball fights…

She sat up with a sigh and swung her legs over the side of the bed, running her hands through her blonde hair to untangle it. Looking out the window, she could see flakes of snow falling gently down. She got up and stood there in her blue flannel pajamas, listening carefully. The house was not silent. Someone was downstairs in the kitchen, opening cabinets as if getting something ready. That meant it probably wouldn't be a Christmas like the one two years ago, when both of her parents had had to work, greeting her in the morning just to apologize for having to leave. The year before that, her mother had had to work. Last year, it had been her father. By the time the day was done, they only managed to spend an hour or so of the holiday together. With these things in mind, she braced herself and left her room to go downstairs. There was only one thing she had asked for.

_Dear Santa Claus,_ her list had read,  
><em>I've been a very good girl this year. All I want for Christmas is for Mommy and Daddy to both be home with me.<br>__Love, Sherry_

When she got downstairs, she walked into the kitchen cautiously. Annette Birkin stood at the counter arranging the cookies on the platter, blonde hair pulled back away from her face and a white apron over her festive red sweater and green pants. Sherry thought the combination was awful, but she would never say so.

She turned away from the counter and pulled her daughter into a hug. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," Sherry responded, hope and worry fluttering inside of her. "Is Daddy home?"

Annette didn't answer, only tightened her hug.

Sherry slumped, hope dying. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. He tried, he really did. They even wanted me to work today, but I convinced them that at least one of us needed to be here with you." She moved back to separate them and cupped her chin. "Do you understand?"

Sherry nodded, but tears filled her eyes. She tried to blink them away, not wanting to cry. Her parents' work called them away a lot. She knew she should be used to it by now. There was no reason Christmas should be any different. It was just that the way the other kids talked about it… She turned away, wiping her face and trying to stop the tears from coming. "I just wanted the three of us to have Christmas together!"

Her mother made a sad sound, but she didn't turn around. She heard her open another cabinet, and then Annette circled around her, holding a plate with three cookies on it. "Since it's Christmas, you can have cookies for breakfast. Isn't that neat?"

It wasn't as 'neat' as if both of her parents had been there for Christmas, but she forced a smile onto her face and took the plate into the living room. She sat down on the couch, staring at the tree as she ate. The tree was only partially decorated, as they all had been too busy to finish it. As it was, the lonely strand of lights lit up half of it, and a few sad ornaments hung here and there. The presents were piled beneath the tree, as she had expected, and the cookies were one of her favorite kinds, but neither thing made her feel happy. She swallowed hard, the chocolate feeling like a hard lump as it went down.

She set her plate down and wandered the living room until she found the remote for the TV. Then she turned it on, hoping that one of the special Christmas programs on today would be about some lonely person spending a lonely Christmas. She had found shows like that in the past years; they always made her feel better about what she _did_ have, and they usually had a happy ending that made her smile.

This year, however, she seemed to be out of luck. Every show she saw featured smiling families, laughing children, and everyone celebrating Christmas together. She turned off the TV and stared at the dark screen, wondering if her mother would agree if she challenged her to a snowball fight. She had been going to ask her father about that; he seemed more the type. She had memories of being very small and playing out in the snow with him. They seemed so long ago.

The phone rang, and Annette answered it, poking her head into the room a moment later.

"Sherry, it's for you!"

"Who is it?" she asked, getting up.

"It's Father Vincent."

She walked over and took the phone nervously. Vincent was some sort of a priest, but he didn't act like any priest she had ever heard of. That included the other priests she had met from his religion, though, which was a good thing. He seemed a little crazy, but he wasn't as scary as some of the other people who lived in Silent Hill.

"Hi?"

"Merry Christmas!" Vincent shouted from the other end.

"Merry Christmas," she said back, surprised that he celebrated it.

"You don't sound very happy, Sherry. Come on, don't you know the song? Better not cry, better not pout? Santa isn't going to bring you anything if you don't stop pouting!"

"It's too late anyway." She turned away so that she could pretend she didn't see her mother shaking her head emphatically. "I didn't get the one thing I wanted…"

"Oh, one thing, and you're pouting. What was it? A train?"

"No," she said, starting to feel tired of talking to him. "I wanted Mommy and Daddy to both be here with me for Christmas, but Daddy had to work anyway."

"What? Well he—" She wasn't entirely sure how she expected him to finish that sentence, whether he was going to mock her or comfort her, but she never got to find out. "Ah, I have to go. Claudia is banging on the door and shouting. Bye!"

She hung up quickly, not wanting to think of Claudia. The priestess from Vincent's religion was one of the scariest people she had ever met. With a sigh, she returned to the living room.

xXx

Vincent hung up the phone, pushed off of the desk with his feet, and let the wheeled chair roll over to the door before finally opening it. Claudia Wolf stopped knocking as the door swung open, but she didn't look at all impressed by his method of opening it. She marched into the office, eyes blazing as she pointed her finger at him.

"You!"

He glanced down at himself, wondering if he had forgotten to take off his festive sweater. She hadn't been pleased with it when she saw it earlier that morning—since she always wore a dark dress that stood in stark contrast to her pale skin and hair, he supposed it just hadn't been austere enough. He hadn't forgotten, though, and he was wearing the white shirt and brown vest that he usually wore. Unless she had something against that now, it couldn't be about his clothes.

Her gaze had become increasingly livid as he inspected his clothes, so he looked up and offered her a smile. "Yes?"

"What did you _do_?" she snarled.

He considered the question for the moment. "Well, I fixed myself a cup of coffee… counted money… opened Christmas cards… decorated my office…" He held out his arms and spun around in the chair to indicate the sparkling garland, lights, and colored balls he had covered the walls with, jabbing a finger at the small Christmas tree in the corner before facing her again. She didn't look impressed by his decorating, so he smirked and continued, "Let's see… I called the Birkins…"

"Enough!" She folded her arms and stared down at him. "You know what I mean."

He thought he did, but instead of saying so, he continued to smile innocently at her.

Claudia slammed her hand down on his desk. "Vincent! You…" She spluttered, as if having difficulty getting the words out. "You… you put…_alcohol_…in the church's water supply!"

"Oh, _that_!" He laughed and smiled. She didn't return his smile, and he spread his arms out. "Claudia, Claudia, Claudia…it's Christmas! The Order needs to loosen up a bit, especially on a day like this."

"What has Christmas got to do with the Order?" she spat. "God will punish you for this, Vincent!"

"She'll probably punish me for my tree, too," he said with a smirk.

Her nostrils flared. "Will you never take this seriously?"

"I'm as serious as I can be on Christmas," he said. "It's a special time of year, Claudia. Maybe if you weren't so serious all the time, you'd see there is some good in the world."

"Who did you say you called?" she asked, apparently ignoring his suggestion.

"The Birkins," he said, thinking back to what Sherry had told him. William Birkin, now there was another guy who was too serious about some things—namely, work. He'd talked to him just the other day about lightening up the Christmas atmosphere at work, but he hadn't realized then that Sherry would want him at home.

"Hmm…" Claudia nodded and started to pace. "Yes, they have that little girl, don't they? A child like that shouldn't be left to the teachings of such heathens. I may have to pay her a visit."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Vincent jumped to his feet. "Didn't we talk about this? It's too risky to kidnap children for the Order, especially when they're old enough to understand! Besides, her parents work for Umbrella. You don't want to get on their bad side, Claudia; the people at Umbrella are all sorts of crazy." He waved his hands around for emphasis, but she just rolled her eyes at him.

"I wasn't thinking about kidnapping the girl, Vincent. I just thought someone should bring the light to her." She nodded, looking thoughtful. "On a 'holiday' such as today, perhaps that would be best…"

"Look, I have a better idea. If you don't want to celebrate Christmas, sure, go to Raccoon City, but leave the Birkins alone. Find Al, maybe the two of you can haunt a café together."

She raised her eyebrows and didn't say a word. As she swept her way out of the office, he shook his head. Leave it to Claudia to ruin the rest of Sherry's Christmas. Now he _knew_ he had to do something. Vincent picked up the phone and began to dial.

xXx

"No!" William Birkin yelped at scientist standing out in the hallway. The other man had a huge grin on his face and a screwdriver in one hand. "I do _not_ want to help you rewire the security system for the experimentation lab so that you can only get in by singing 'Feliz Navidad' in four-part harmony!" The phone began to ring then, and he took the excuse to slam shut the door before he could hear about any other hare-brained schemes. He should _never_ have listened to Vincent.

Speak of the devil, as they say; it was Vincent's voice on the other end of the phone when he answered, wishing him a Merry Christmas.

"Oh, it's you."

"Now what did I do to deserve that?" Vincent asked, sounding almost innocent.

"What did you do? 'Liven up the atmosphere, Will,' 'Have a Christmas office party, Will,' 'Pass out some drinks at the office party, Will'! Do you know what it's like here right now? Everyone is acting completely insane, like they haven't got a care in the world!"

"Kind of like me?"

"Yes! And I'm here, afraid to leave the lab to seek out more sane people because of the sheer amount of _in_sane people I'd have to pass on the way! Christmas atmosphere? This is a terrible atmosphere for a lab, Vincent!"

"It's not my fault," Vincent said. "My advice was thrown out there, free for the taking. I didn't force you to follow it."

"I can't even work in peace," he grumbled, thinking over how the morning had gone. After a few attempts to make it deeper into the complex, he had given up. "Every time I start to get into my notes, someone out in the hall bursts into song and scares me half to death."

"There's one clear solution."

"What's that?"

"Stop working."

It was official; Vincent was an utter loon. William glared at the phone before finally asking, "What?"

"I'm serious! That's actually why I called you. I was talking to Sherry on the phone. Don't you love Sherry?"

"Of course I love Sherry!" he snapped.

"Well, she's sad because you have to work. Today. _Christmas_."

"It's not my fault. I tried to get the day off like Annette!" Reading Sherry's Christmas list and then having to work anyway had just about broken his heart. It was one of the reasons he had actually gone along with the 'office party' idea. Unfortunately, instead of cheering himself up, he had created utter chaos. "It just didn't work."

"I don't think you tried hard enough."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, irritated. "Ignore the fact that this is my job and just take a day off whenever I want?"

"No. Just for Christmas."

"Vincent!"

"To be with your wife and daughter," he continued on the other end as if he hadn't been interrupted. "You know, Annette and Sherry? Remember Sherry? The little girl who wants to spend Christmas with you? Remember how you said you loved your daughter?"

"Stop that. You're just going to make me feel guilty, and there's nothing I can do. If I could spend Christmas with my family, I would. What do you expect me to do, go to the head of the company and explain that I need to go home?"

"Come on, you're a brilliant man, Will! You can think of something. In fact, with me on your side, it'll be surprising if we don't get the entire Umbrella Corporation to close down in honor of Christmas!"

xXx

"Why don't we open some of these presents, Sherry?" Annette asked, sitting cross-legged by the tree.

Sherry sat down beside her. "Okay," she sighed.

"But not all of them. We'll save some of them for tonight, once your father gets home. How does that sound?"

She shrugged. "Fine." She opened the present that her mother handed to her, pulling off the blue wrapping paper. She took off the lid of the uncovered box and found a ragdoll, one with black hair hanging down in two braids. "Thank you," she said, dismally thinking that at least she would have the doll to keep her company the next time they both had to work.

"Sherry, you can't sulk all day…"

"I'm not sulking."

"Lots of children would be happy to have a Christmas as good as yours."

She couldn't think of anything good to say to that, so she just hugged her new doll and didn't say anything. Christmas. They all said it was a special time of year, but she didn't know what was so special about it. It just seemed like a lot of boxes and lights and broken hearts.

"Sherry… What would cheer you up?"

She thought about that for a minute. If her father couldn't be home, then she couldn't spend her Christmas with family, like other kids talked about. Some of them talked about going to church, but she wasn't quite sure what that entailed or what church her mother would want to go to. Of course, there was the snowball fight idea…

"Let's have a snowball fight!"

"A…what?"

She jumped up and looked out the window. It was still snowing steadily, and the ground was covered by at least a few inches. "It'll be perfect!" she cried. "Snowball fight!"

"Maybe we should wait until a little later," Annette said.

"That's what I thought you'd say," she sighed. It had been worth a try. Instead, Sherry opened another present and discovered a model train set, which entertained her for a while as she got it set up and laid out the track so that the train would go around and around the partially-decorated Christmas tree. She watched it travel in circles for a while, until Annette cleared her throat. She looked over.

"You could help me decorate the house…"

She jumped up. Maybe more decorations would help the house feel like it had the Christmas spirit. With only the sparse tree, it didn't seem very festive. It felt half-finished, like all of their Christmases. "All right!"

"Wait here while I go get the box of decorations."

She returned within minutes, set the box down on the table in the kitchen, and then left again. Sherry dug through the box until she found bundles of gold garland, which she nearly ran off with until she realized that she wasn't tall enough to hang it around the ceiling. Annette returned with a box of tacks and a stepladder, and they went around the house together hanging the garland.

"This all is for the tree, right?" Sherry asked, looking into the box and seeing another strand of lights, a pile of colorful balls, and packs of silver tinsel. She got the lights out and untangling the wires.

"That's right." Annette finished hanging a wreath on the door and looked around the kitchen. "Let me see here, where did I put that…"

"What are you looking for?"

"Aha!" She pulled a plant out from a pot sitting on the windowsill. "Mistletoe!"

"Mistletoe?" Sherry repeated, making a face. She knew about mistletoe. Everyone joked about it at school around this time. The day before Christmas break started, one silly boy in her class would always come in wearing a hat that had mistletoe attached to it and say that meant girls had to kiss him. She always avoided him that day as much as possible, and she wasn't pleased to see that dreaded plant in her own house.

Annette glanced at her and laughed. "You should see your face."

"Mistletoe is icky," she said, watching as she took the plant over to the doorframe and began to attach it above the door.

"Icky." She laughed again.

"It _is_ icky!"

"You'll feel differently when you're older."

"No I won't," Sherry said, which made her mother laugh again, although she didn't know why. "I'm not going to get married, either."

She straightened the mistletoe and turned around. "Oh, you'll find a boy you like, and then—"

"No I won't. I know lots of boys, but they're all icky except for Daddy."

Annette's mouth twitched, as if she was trying hard not to laugh. "I'm sure he isn't the only non 'icky' guy out there."

Sherry thought for a minute and found she had to reluctantly agree. "Well, Mr. Wesker isn't icky, but I'm not kissing him under the mistletoe, either, even if he asks!"

Her mother opened her mouth as if to say something, but started laughing instead. She laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes, and as she was wiping them away, she shook her head. "Oh, Sherry, I never know what you're going to say."

She still didn't know what was so funny, but instead of asking, she grabbed the strand of lights from the table and took it over to the tree. She looked up at the tree for a moment, realizing again that she was too little to wrap it around the unlit section. She pulled out one of the wrapped boxes from beneath the tree and climbed onto it to reach higher. On her tiptoes, she was just about ready to start wrapping the wires around when Annette walked over and took it from her.

"Why don't you let me do this part?" she asked.

"All right," she sighed. She instead assigned herself to the important duty of making sure her mother didn't step on her train. As she guarded the train, she thought more about Christmas stories she had heard. "Sally says at her house, they string popcorn to decorate the tree with," she said.

"Do you want to do that?" Annette asked, walking in a circle around the tree as she carefully placed the lights over the branches.

"Yes!"

To her delight, that went over much better than the snowball fight idea had, and after the tree was all lit up, her mother went into the kitchen to start popping popcorn. Sherry grabbed a few of the Christmas balls from the box and hung them on the tree, leaving some there so that the higher parts of the tree would be decorated as well.

Over the sound of popping popcorn, another noise suddenly came, and she froze. It sounded like…someone outside, putting a key into the lock of the door. It couldn't be…she hardly dared to breathe as she looked out the window…and then she ran into the kitchen.

"It's Daddy!" she shouted, jumping up and down in front of Annette. "He's home, he's home, he's home! My Christmas wish is going to come true after all!"


	2. Chapter 2: Christmas Gathering

Chapter 2: Christmas Gathering

"Surprise!" William shouted, walking into the dining room. He shook the snow off of his coat and closed the door, then joined them in the kitchen.

"You're home!" Sherry cried again.

"Of course," he said, scooping her into a hug. "I couldn't disappoint you when it was the only thing you asked for, now could I?"

"Wait there, William," Annette said. "Mistletoe."

Sherry danced away to look out the window at the snow while they kissed, humming Jingle Bells because it was the first Christmas melody that came to mind, and she thought the moment deserved a song. The snow was falling even more thickly now, making it hard to even see outside. The way it was piling up, there would definitely be enough for a snowball fight, and possibly a whole army of snowmen.

"Now, tell me what happened," Annette said. "You didn't sneak out of work, did you?"

"No, of course not…not that it would have _mattered_; it's not like most people were working today anyway. Really, you won't recognize the place for the amount of decorations and modifications they put up! There was caroling right outside the lab! Snowmen in the elevator! But no, I didn't sneak out."

"What did you do, then?"

"Snowmen in the elevator?" Sherry repeated, turning around to stare at him. She wondered if that meant she would be allowed to build an igloo in her bedroom. With enough snow, she thought she might be able to keep it from melting.

"Well, there was at least one."

"_Really?_"

"William! What did you do to get out of work?"

He grinned.

"Oh no." Annette put her forehead in her hands. "I suddenly had a horrible thought…"

"Well, Vincent called me on the phone and said—"

"That was the horrible thought."

Sherry giggled at the bewildered look on her father's face. He gaped at Annette, not seeming to know what to say. Now she was glad she had gotten to talk to Vincent on the phone, if he was responsible for this.

"Sometimes I think Claudia's right about him. Has Vincent ever suggested anything that hasn't led to trouble?"

"Yes!" William frowned. "Wait a minute, I'm sure there was something… Certainly not the office party… I got it! He helped me with the finances that one year, remember?"

"Was that the year that some of our money mysteriously went missing?"

"Well, yes…"

"Father Vincent wouldn't steal!" Sherry protested.

Annette glanced at her and then looked back at William. "We'll talk about that another time. For now, I just want to know what kind of trouble to expect."

"There's not going to be any trouble! He just reminded me that I'm a brilliant man, and I concurred, and between the two of us, we came up with a foolproof plan! What does it look like when a company is working on Christmas? It looks like they're greedy, materialistic Scrooges who only care about making money! What could be better for a company's reputation than when the CEO decides to close everything down on Christmas, putting love and family ahead of profit?"

"Stop. Did you… No, no, you can't have meant what I thought you did."

"What do you mean?"

Sherry pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down to watch, fascinated by the contrast in their expressions. Annette looked like she was about to faint, while William looked ready to start dancing around the room.

"You didn't harass Spencer into closing for Christmas."

"Now, Annette, please… 'Harass' is such a strong word…"

She sank against the wall. "You did. Oh, just wait until I talk to that Vincent!"

"There's nothing to be upset about! I explained it just like I explained it to you. The Umbrella Corporation is now officially the pharmaceutical company with the Christmas spirit, promoting peace on earth and goodwill towards men!"

"Yay!" Sherry jumped up. "I can't wait until I tell everyone at school! Everyone always asks what you do at Umbrella, and now I have the best answer ever! My mommy and daddy work to make peace on earth and goodwill towards men!" She twirled on the tile kitchen floor, holding out her arms to keep her balance.

Annette made an odd choking sound.

"Plus we're all together now, just like I wanted!" She started humming Jingle Bells again.

"That's right!" William said with a smile. "Also, I'm starved. Someone was baking cookies over Bunsen burners, and they smelled so good and—_popcorn?_" He ran towards the counter.

"No, that's for the tree!" Sherry wailed, darting into his path and trying to stop him from reaching the popcorn. Their tree was in enough danger of looking bare without her father eating some of the decorations.

"Oh." He frowned. "Really?"

"Yes," Annette said, moving the bowl of popcorn away from him, "really. You string the popcorn and put it on the tree."

"I need to celebrate Christmas more often, I guess." Then he walked over to the phone on the wall near the entrance to the dining room. "Now, on the way home I had the terrible premonition that someone might call and say I have to go back to work, but I'm not letting anything disrupt our Christmas." He yanked the phone cord out of the wall. "There! Let them try to call now!"

"William!" Annette looked horrified.

"Relax. I'll plug it back in as soon as we're done celebrating. What could possibly go wrong?"

Sherry hopped up and down to get their attention. "Let's open presents before we string the popcorn! I have your gifts under the tree, and I want you to open them!"

She led them back into the living room, where she approached the tree and studied the pile of presents. Diving in quickly, she managed to grab both presents before her train made a complete circuit. She jumped back, feeling proud that she hadn't gotten in its way or had to turn it off. The presents she had gotten for her parents were wrapped in blue wrapping paper, each bulging oddly because she hadn't quite gotten the hang of wrapping yet. She had made up for it by using as much tape as possible; there was no way those presents were going to pop open on their own.

"Should I get the electric knife?" William asked when she handed him his, looking at the way the wrapped tape made the entire box shiny.

"And I thought I'd just lost that roll of tape," Annette said, looking at hers.

Sherry giggled and clapped her hands. "Open them!"

"Easier said than done," her father said, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocketknife, using it to cut through the tape and the wrapping paper until he could get the present out. He opened the box and dug through the tissue paper until he pulled out a blue book with cloth pockets on the sides and dated pages in between.

"It's a Pocket Pocketbook Pocket Planner!" Sherry blurted, having spent a great deal of time practicing how to say that without tripping over the words.

"Really?"

"You've heard of them?"

"Actually, no."

She smiled. "Well, it's a Pocket Planner, like you can use to remember dates and stuff, and then the pockets on the side are for holding money! Then you put it in your pocket and have everything wherever you go! Merry Christmas!"

"I see." He still looked a bit bemused, but he put it in his pocket and smiled. "Thank you, Sherry, and Merry Christmas."

Then Annette borrowed his pocketknife and used it to get her present opened. Within her box was a plastic mold that formed an imperfect rectangle, curved at the top, giving it the shape of a piece of sliced bread. She blinked at it. "Is it a cookie cutter?"

"No," Sherry said, laughing. "It's for eggs! You cook your egg in there so that it's the perfect shape for a sandwich! Merry Christmas!"

"This is certainly something I wouldn't have thought to buy for myself," she said with a grin, before leaning over to hug her. "Thank you, and Merry Christmas, Sherry. Do you want to finish opening your presents now?"

"No, I want us to decorate the tree together!"

"All right then, I'll get the popcorn!"

"I'll get the string!" Sherry cried, following her into the kitchen.

"I'll… I'll get the door," William said, as a loud pounding came from outside. He hurried out of the room, glancing out the window quickly before raising his eyebrows and opening the door. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas indeed," said Albert Wesker, shaking his head as he walked in. The blond man was covered in snow and still wearing a lab coat over his black clothes. "I was working in the lab, but some nut got the entire corporation to close down because of some nonsense about peace on earth and goodwill towards men."

"Mr. Wesker!" Sherry shouted, running over to give him a hug. Some people thought he was scary, but she was pretty sure that was just because they weren't used to seeing someone wear sunglasses everywhere. "Merry Christmas!"

She managed to hold onto him for about a second before he reached down, removed her hands from his waist, picked her up, and set her down a few feet away. She huffed her breath out at him, but he didn't seem to care.

"Yes, Sherry, it's good to se—What are you doing?" he demanded of Annette, who had set down the popcorn and walked over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Mistletoe," she said, pointing up.

He took a large step out from under it, shaking his head again.

Annette met Sherry's eyes and mouthed, "Icky?"

She burst out laughing, and as the two of them cracked up, Wesker said, "William, they're insane."

"Well, at least I'm not the only nut," William said with a sheepish grin. "I got the corporation closed down for the day. Merry Christmas, Albert!"

"Am I the only person who wanted to work today?"

"Yes," Sherry said, frowning at him. "It's Christmas. You should be with your family."

"I don't have a family."

"You don't?" She stared at him, trying to imagine how she would have felt if she had woken up without even the hope of spending Christmas with her parents. "That's so sad! But you have us!" She took a step towards him and froze as he fixed her with a stare from behind his sunglasses.

"If you hug me again, I'll—"

"Albert."

"William?"

"You don't threaten my daughter."

"He wasn't threatening me," Sherry said. "I know he only pretends to be scary. Wait here, Mr. Wesker! I'll go get your present!"

She dashed up the stairs to her room, to where a few presents still sat. She had only put her parents' presents under the tree, because she hadn't expected to see anyone else on Christmas. She had been going to give them Wesker's present to take to work, but since he was here, she wanted to watch him open it. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face.

When she got back downstairs, they had gone into the living room. Her parents were sitting on the couch, and Wesker was sitting in a chair across from them, holding the pocketknife and looking confused.

She handed him the present and then hopped up onto the couch to wait. " Merry Christmas!"

He looked at the tape and then at the pocketknife. "Now I understand." After cutting open the present, he pulled out the box and opened it. Sherry held her breath and waited for his reaction as he stared into the box. And continued staring.

"If it's shaped like a piece of bread, it's for cooking eggs," Annette said, after he had stared into the box for nearly half a minute.

"No… It…looks like a pair of sunglasses with Christmas lights built in," he said, finally pulling the object out of the box. What was visible of the frames were black, but the rest was covered by tiny lights placed everywhere except on the lenses.

Sherry beamed at him. "That's exactly what it is! The switch for the lights is on the left side. I know how much you love sunglasses. Merry Christmas! Put them on!"

"No."

"…Please?"

"No."

"_Pretty _please?"

"_No._"

She slumped. Apparently she wouldn't get to see him with Christmas lights sparkling from his face after all. She had been so excited when she saw them in the store, too. "I guess you don't have the Christmas spirit…"

"I got you a present, didn't I?"

She looked up. "You did?"

"You did?" William asked, sounding alarmed.

"Calm down, William, you look like you think I'd give her a bomb."

"What is it?" Sherry asked. "_Where_ is it?"

He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a wrapped box that he had tied to the inside. "Here."

Excited, she got off the couch and took it from him. It was heavier than she had expected, and she sat down on the floor to open it. She hadn't thought Wesker got presents for people—ever. The Christmas spirit seemed to be working on him after all; this was exactly the way the holidays should be. She tore off the wrapping paper and found a box that was carefully sealed with layers of tape that almost matched those on presents she had wrapped, and labeled with a whole variety of warnings. She ignored them all and pulled off the tape, opening the box.

A whole array of equipment was inside, including a bundle of vials and test tubes, some of which were sealed and filled with fluid. "Is it a chemistry set?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Of course not. Any kid can get a chemistry set. It's a virology set! I put it together myself at the lab."

"You _what_?" Annette demanded, at the same time that William said, "Albert, I think that's illegal!"

Sherry glanced up from the box and saw that Wesker looked completely impassive. "Your point being what? If she's going to work for Umbrella someday, she needs to start practicing."

William slid off of the couch to sit beside her on the floor and pulled the box away from her. "Maybe she doesn't _want_ to work for Umbrella."

"Do you want to be a scientist, Sherry?" Wesker asked.

She looked between the two of them, shrinking back from the way they were both staring. "Um…" She edged closer to her father and reached towards the box. "Maybe I should play with this and find out!"

He pulled it further out of her reach. "It's not a toy! It's dangerous!"

"Educational," Wesker corrected.

She glanced at him. He was smirking now. He looked like he was enjoying himself. She was sure he wouldn't look so happy if there was any real danger, and she hoped her father would remember that, too, and let her have her gift back.

"Albert," Annette said, rather curtly, "may I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?"

Still looking amused, he got up after she did and followed her out of the room. Sherry looked back at William. He was rooting through the box. She wondered if that meant he was going to let her have it back after all. As she watched, he pulled out a white book labeled _Instructions_.

She held out her hand. "Let me see!"

"Be good, Sherry," he said, and she sat back, annoyed. It was her present, not his. He opened the instruction booklet and shook his head. "He wrote the instructions, too, I see. 'Chapter 3: How to Tell if You've Been Infected,' oh, that should be a fun one. Oh, and there are photographs. Lovely."

"Can I see?"

"No."

She folded her knees up so that her chin could rest on them and wrapped her arms around her legs. "He brought it for me," she mumbled. She considered going to the kitchen door to eavesdrop, but just as she got tired of watching her father look at her present, Wesker came back. Having gotten the impression that her mother was displeased, and having been on her bad side for misbehaving before, Sherry was surprised to see that he didn't look at all chastised. If anything, he looked disbelieving.

"William, come here!" Annette shouted from the kitchen.

He, on the other hand, looked like he had already been reprimanded. He glanced at Sherry, glanced at Wesker, and then pushed the box further away from them, more towards the dining room. He walked over to the tree, and as she watched in confusion, he took off one of the ornaments, a cloth reindeer with bells around its neck. He put it on top of the box.

"If I hear a single jingle," he warned, "someone is going to be in a lot of trouble."

Sherry giggled, but stopped when he gave her a look. She nodded to let him know that she had taken his warning seriously. He let out a long sigh and walked out of the room, asking what the problem was.

As soon as he was gone, she folded her arms. "I don't see why I can't have my own Christmas present!"

"How much do you know about what your parents do at work?"

She looked at Wesker, surprised at the question. He wasn't smiling anymore but was studying her intently. "Umm…" She looked down at her hands, feeling like she was under pressure, like when her teacher called on her suddenly at school. "They're scientists." She wondered if it was a trick question and looked up quickly to see his reaction.

He was still regarding her steadily. "And what do they do?"

"Science?"

He stared at her so long that she gulped and edged backwards, before he finally asked, "What sort of science?"

She glanced at the box and then back at him. "Virology? …Are you interrogating me?"

He chuckled. "No. If I were interrogating you, you'd know it. This is a friendly chat."

"Oh," she said, willing to accept that. "Okay."

"Now. Back to my questions."

William walked in, then, with a plate full of cookies. "Cookies anyone?" He stopped and looked back and forth between the two of them. "I take it I interrupted something. Albert, are you terrorizing my daughter?"

"No, we're having a friendly chat," Sherry said.

"Well, at least you're not using the do-it-yourself T-virus kit."

Wesker gave him a flat look. "Don't call it that."

Sherry was afraid the two of them were going to start to argue, but then Annette walked in with the bowl of popcorn. "All right," she said, sitting down on the couch with the bowl beside her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a needle and thread. "It's time to get this thing done."

"What are the rest of us going to do?" William asked.

Sherry reached over and took the plate of cookies from him. She knew what _she_ was going to be doing, although she would have preferred to be able to take a closer look at her present. She glanced at it, still sitting with the ornament on top. Then she took one of the chocolate chip cookies from the plate, to have something to eat while she thought about the present dilemma.

Just then, a sharp rapping came from the door.

"Who could that be?" William asked, as he got up to answer it.

"It's probably the police coming to investigate the disappearance of certain materials from the lab," Annette said under her breath, stabbing a popcorn kernel with the needle.

Wesker snorted.

Sherry waited nervously. The way things were going, this could be someone coming to ruin her Christmas.


	3. Chapter 3: The Order Comes to Town

Chapter 3: The Order Comes to Town

"Oh," William's voice came from the dining room. "Merry Christmas, Claudia!"

"Do not say such things to me, William!"

Sherry cringed. That had definitely been the voice of the scary priestess from Silent Hill. If there was one person she was hoping to _not_ see today, it was her. Claudia never seemed to do anything but yell and say scary things.

William returned to the living room, with Claudia Wolf walking behind him. Pale, with platinum-blonde hair, she was barefoot despite the weather. She was brushing snow off of her dark blue robes as she entered the room, but then she came to a dead stop in the doorway and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not staying if _he_ stays," she said, pointing a finger in Wesker's direction.

"Good," Wesker said, "because no one invited you."

She turned her cool stare at him and stalked into the room. "If I were you, I would mind your tongue, lest God see your mockery as blasphemy!"

"I'm sure he has more important things on his mind."

"_She_."

"Of course, I forgot."

"Your sarcasm does not elude me."

"Should I bow down to your powers of perception?"

"Enough, you—"

Annette cleared her throat as William returned to sit by her on the couch. "Merry Christmas, Claudia."

"Do not speak to me of that holiday," she said, nostrils flaring. "It is all I hear and see, everywhere I go! Heresy…blasphemy…_Christmas_… Even in my own church, our members have forgotten themselves and participated in the celebrations, not realizing the dangers present in opening themselves to the ravings of another religion!"

"And they don't accept your wisdom?" Wesker asked, raising his eyebrows. "Surely anyone can see that you are an expert on raving."

Sherry giggled and immediately regretted it, as that drew Claudia's attention to her. That was never a good thing.

"You! You are just the one I came to see."

"Me?" she asked, feeling nervous for more reasons than just shyness. "W-why?"

"I'm putting my foot down on this one," William said. "_No one_ is allowed to terrorize my daughter, end of story."

"Be quiet, William," Claudia said. "You know nothing! Besides, I have brought Sherry a present."

"You too?" Sherry asked. They said Christmas was a time for miracles, but this Christmas was bordering on the surreal. She was starting to feel like she was in the Twilight Zone.

"Just tell me it has nothing to do with her practicing to be a priestess," Annette said.

Claudia looked a bit put out. "Do you really think I would line up such an unenlightened child for the priesthood? She is not even a member of the Order, yet! It truly is a crime, that I have left her alone for so long. Worse yet, I know that through my words and actions, I have frightened her and driven her further from me. This is a peace offering, something which I hope will change her life forever and bring her towards the light."

Sherry stared at her, bewildered by the fact that she was almost apologizing. "So…it really _is_ a Christmas present?"

"No!" Claudia folded her arms. "That is the first thing we must work on, Sherry, your insistence upon celebrating Christmas. But, here." She reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled out a small, leather-bound book. "This is a very important book. It contains all of the teachings of the Order of the Halo of the Sun."

"It's just going to be one of those days," William muttered.

Sherry took the book, not sure what to make of it. "Thank you," she said, wanting to be polite since the priestess was trying to make peace with her. She had just opened it to the first page, curious about what that cult was actually all about, when her father's hand reached down and took the book from her. She turned to look at him in dismay.

"William Birkin, what are you doing?" Claudia shouted.

"Just scanning through to make sure it's all right for someone her age to read."

"There are no age restrictions on the truth! Truth… but I suppose that is something you do not understand. Do you think the veneer of beauty you people use to disguise your corporation fools everyone? Are these the sorts of people a child should be raised among? You are corrupting her!"

"Oh yes," Wesker said, "we wouldn't want her to be corrupted by the wrong people. I'm sure the Order is a wonderful place for children. Tell me, how is the Wish House these days?"

Sherry looked from one to the other, not sure what either of them was talking about. Whatever it was, it didn't seem like it was in the holiday spirit.

"My sect does not concern itself with the Wish House. If others feel that the path to God's return is through the summoning performed by a conjurer, then that is for them to pursue. I seek Her return through Alessa."

He snapped his fingers. "That's right. You're the ones who burn people alive! Your moral standing above Umbrella is astronomical."

"Stop provoking her!" Annette hissed through clenched teeth.

Sherry felt very scared. "Burning people alive?" she asked, staring at Claudia with wide eyes and wondering if she should run now. She was now very glad that her father had taken away the book. She didn't want to know what sorts of things it said anymore.

Claudia had gone even paler than usual. "The fire that killed Alessa was an accident."

"Of course. And Umbrella's goal is to preserve the health of the people. Strange, we seem to have come to an understanding."

"You will_ burn_, Albert Wesker!"

There was that word again. Sherry wondered if anyone would stop her if she ran out of the room while they were busy shouting. She was starting to worry that Claudia was going to pull out a pack of matches.

"Do we really have to talk about this on Christmas?" William asked.

Claudia whirled to face him. "Must you keep mentioning that name? Do not drag your daughter down with you!"

"No one's being dragged anywhere!" he protested. "Just listen to me for a minute, Claudia. You're a reasonable person."

Wesker made a choking noise.

"…As I was saying. You're a reasonable person. Even from your perspective, is there any harm in Sherry celebrating Christmas? We celebrate it quite secularly, if it makes you feel any better."

"It does not!" she snapped. "Do you really think it's any better to fill her head with such nonsense as Santa Claus?"

"But Santa is good and jolly and—" Sherry shrunk back at the look on Claudia's face.

"And so you spend your days thinking about men in sleighs who give out presents, rather than what truly matters!" Claudia lifted her arms. "When God comes, She will reward those who have served Her faithfully. The world will submit to Her judgment, and some will enter Paradise…and others will not." She narrowed her eyes. "And yet you waste your time with Santa Claus… That red-suited demon will drag you to Hell with his evil temptations of toys and cookies!"

Sherry backed away from her, now having the horrific image in her mind of a demonic Santa Claus trying to grab her. The priestess advanced towards her, continuing her rampage of warnings about the evils of Santa Claus.

"Stop it, Claudia!" Annette snapped, getting to her feet and grabbing her arm. "I like you, but you're going too far."

"How does your mind operate?" Wesker asked. "I'd say Umbrella would love to study you, but the workings of your brain might be too terrifying for us."

"Come to Silent Hill some time," she said back, giving him a steady look. "The workings of _your_ brain could help us depict the deepest circles of Hell!"

"Is that before or after I snap from having to deal with so many locked doors? What do you do, just murder every locksmith who drives into town?"

"This from the man who lives in a place where you can't get anywhere without a pocket full of emblems and a backpack full of cranks?"

As Annette got between the two of them and said calming words—though they both seemed to be ignoring her—Sherry saw her father get off the couch, still holding the book. He walked over to where he had put the virology set and slipped the book inside the box. She sighed and wondered what he was planning on doing with them.

She started to creep away, wondering if he would agree to sneaking outside and having a snowball fight. Glancing up at the window, she saw that the snow was falling even more thickly than it had been before. Now she was doubly glad both of her parents were home today; otherwise they would have had to eventually drive home in this, a more incredible snowstorm than any she could remember seeing before.

"Sherry!" Claudia sidestepped Annette and stood in front of her. "You must listen to me! I am not trying to frighten you; I only want to help you!"

She backed up, imagining that if she did make a break for it, the priestess might literally chase her down and grab her. She reached the chair again, and as Claudia headed towards her, she hid behind the nearest thing—Wesker's legs.

"Sherry, please come out! Your very soul is at stake!"

Hanging onto Wesker, Sherry hid her face and just hoped he wouldn't get annoyed or stand up suddenly.

As Claudia continued her entreaties, Annette began having a quiet conversation with Wesker about not saying any more things to instigate her, and then a knock came at the door. Considering how it had gone the last time that happened, Sherry hoped that everyone would agree with her to just ignore it.

However, William apparently did not see it that way. "Another visitor? I'll go see who that is…"

"Sherry!" Claudia shouted. "Come back with me to Silent Hill!"

That was one thing she certainly had no intention of doing. In fact, she could already say with certainty that she was not going anywhere with Claudia.

"Sherry!"

Over the sounds of the shouting, she heard a voice from the door shout, "Merry Christmas!" and her heart leapt. That was Father Vincent's voice. He had dealt with Claudia for years and probably knew how to calm her down. Perhaps he had even come to take her away.

"Merry Christmas, Vincent," Annette said.

"I've come to celebrate Christmas with you! I brought everyone's holiday favorite, eggnog so strong it'll floor you, and—why is Claudia glaring at Al's knees?"

"Sherry is using me as a barricade."

"If she knew anything, she'd be hiding from _you_!" she snapped.

"Well," Vincent said, "she might hide from both of you, so maybe you should stop arguing and go scare people somewhere else! Or just have some eggnog, or cookies, or… Popcorn, all right!"

Sherry peeked out. "No, don't—" she began, but it was too late.

xXx

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!" Vincent spun around in a circle and threw a handful of tinsel over his shoulder at the tree. After munching on the popcorn—nearly choking on the string had stopped him mid-swallow—he had decided the least he could do was help decorate the tree.

"Fa la la la la, la la la la!" Sherry joined in, hanging an angel ornament on the branch above his tinsel.

He hoped Claudia hadn't noticed the occasional angel amongst the decorations, or she'd be off on a rampage again. Fortunately, she seemed to have decided to ignore them entirely, and was sitting stiffly on the couch beside the Birkins.

"Tis the season to be jolly!" An underhand swing sent the next handful of tinsel onto the branches.

"Fa la la la la, la la la la!" On went a knit snowflake.

William and Annette were talking to one another quietly, but even their conversation was subdued. At least they occasionally smiled and ate a cookie. Wesker could have been used in a dictionary to describe "brooding," and Claudia's gaze could have burned holes in the wall she was staring at.

By the time they were completely done with the song—and Vincent knew all the verses, the original version, and part of the translation of the Welsh version, which he tried his best with—the box of decorations was empty and the tree was sparkling. When Sherry plugged in the lights, they almost all lit up. Even without the popcorn, it looked excellent.

"All right," he said, "now it seems most of you weren't listening to my song, so I'm taking upon myself to liven the mood!" He nodded towards the tankard he had brought in with him and set down on the floor. "Now, who wants some eggnog?"

"Is that the same kind of eggnog that turned the lab into a madhouse?" William asked. "If so, none for me. And none for Sherry."

"None for me," Annette said.

Vincent sighed. These people really didn't know how to have a party. He knew better than to ask Claudia. It would probably start her ranting again. She certainly was in a mood today. He looked at Wesker. "Would you like a glass of eggnog, Al?"

"Would you like a broken arm?"

Shaking his head in exasperation, he walked into the dining room and dragged a chair from the table into the living room so that he could sit down. If they weren't going to have any eggnog, neither was he. In this group, it was probably best if his mind was as clear as possible.

"All right. Let's sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Now, there's six of us, so that's two days to a person. Any one want a specific day?"

"Can I have 'five golden rings'?" Sherry asked.

"It's yours. Next?"

After a few moments of dead silence, he rolled his eyes. "Maybe singing was a bad idea. Spoilsports. Anyone up for playing pranks on the neighbors?"

"Do you intentionally cause trouble wherever you go?" Wesker asked.

He bowed. "Call on me whenever you need such services."

Claudia finally stopped staring at the wall. "Vincent, do not spread your misguided thinking to others! Not that _he_ needs help being misguided."

"Thank you for your expert analysis." Wesker tilted his head to stare at her over the top of his sunglasses. "Should I analyze you?"

"Come on, you two, playing pranks on the neighbors would be much more fun! Plus, without the Birkins watching, you two can beat each other up. I won't stop you."

Annette gave him a flat look and then stood up. "I think I had better check on how dinner is coming along."

"I'll help," William said, also getting up. "What are we having?"

Claudia cleared her throat meaningfully. "Ham is traditional, but I'd say there's too much _ham_ in this room already."

"And yet you keep opening your mouth anyway," Wesker said.

"Well, we _are_ having ham," Annette said, as her husband hurried out of the room with a look on his face as if he was getting a headache. "Sherry, will you help make sure enough places are set for everyone?"

"Okay," the girl said, getting up and following them out of the living room.

Vincent looked around. "Well, it seems I'm left with the deranged duo. I feel so sane sitting in this room."

"Vincent," Claudia said, giving him a polite smile, "shut up."

Under the circumstances, that was starting to seem like the best possible action.

xXx

Sherry set the final place at the table and then stood back to count. There were six places, enough for everyone. She hoped they wouldn't fight during dinner. Actually, what she hoped for even more was that Claudia would carry out her threat to leave if Wesker stayed. She had calmed down, but Sherry wasn't convinced she wouldn't just start ranting again at the drop of a hat.

She glanced back in the living room. If Claudia would just leave the room, she might be able to get over to inspect her virology set some more. She was sure the other two wouldn't tell. This was turning into an interesting Christmas after all. It wasn't exactly a peaceful Christmas celebrated by just the three of them, like she had wanted, but it certainly wasn't like any other, either.

A sharp rapping came from the door, and she turned around in alarm. _Another_ person was coming to visit? This was unbelievable. She wasn't even sure her parents had any more friends.

"Could someone get that?" Annette called from the kitchen. "William, be careful! If you drop those pots, they might break!"

"I'm being careful."

"Just hold onto them for a minute while I clear a spot on the counter."

Vincent strode into the dining room, looking amused. "Looks like I've got door duty."

"If it's someone selling something, tell them I'll be there in a minute! William, be careful with those pots!"

He opened the door onto the raging snowstorm. Sherry stared past him. Standing there in the storm, covered in snow, and wearing what seemed to be an icy cloak, was someone she was pretty sure was the Winter Warlock before his redemption. He even had a staff, a black one with a vicious-looking ax head attached to the top. Glaring out from beneath the icicles hanging from his hood, he grabbed the doorframe with a stiff hand and pulled himself into the house. She screamed and dove behind Vincent for protection.

"What is it?" William shouted from the kitchen. "Is it a burglar?"

"William, don't drop those pots!"

"No," Vincent said, "it's just a frozen old man." He stepped closer and pulled him away from the door, closing the door behind him. "Steady there, now. Nice cane. What did you do, walk across town? We're having a blizzard out there!"

Realizing that the visitor was shaking in the cold and seemed to be too stiff to move other than in tiny amounts, Sherry decided he probably wasn't the Winter Warlock after all. Now she was worried he was like the old lady in that other movie. "If he offers you a rose," she said, "you better take it."

Vincent chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. Now then… Wait." He reached forward. Icicles and snow fell to the floor as he pushed back the old man's hood. "Holy cow! It's Ozwell Spencer!"

There was a loud clattering from the kitchen as William dropped the pots.

"Did I hear you right?" Wesker asked, coming into the room. He stared at the newcomer, who glared right back.

Sherry recognized the name, and now she was really confused. If the odd but well-intentioned gifts from Wesker and Claudia had been strange, they were nothing compared to Spencer showing up for a visit.

Her father ran into the room, looking flabbergasted. Annette appeared in the doorway with a worried frown on her face.

Seeming to have thawed out slightly, Spencer pushed past all of them and walked into the kitchen. They trailed as a bewildered mob, with Claudia coming out of the living room to see what was going on.

Spencer reached the phone and grabbed the dangling cord. He held it up and waved it at William, looking a bit like he wanted to strangle him with it. "This…this is why…I had to walk…across most of Raccoon City…in the worst snowstorm in the city's history?"

"I took the bus," Claudia commented.

"We are having a _blizzard_! There are no buses running! There are no cars driving! There aren't even visible _roads_ right now!"

Sherry edged out of the kitchen, not wanting to be too noticeable. Some of the icicles still attached to his clothing looked like they could be used to kill a person.

"You shouldn't have traveled in weather like this!" Annette cried. "We'd have sent you your present in the mail!"

He glared at her. "I'm not here about presents!"

"You know what?" Vincent asked. "I think you need a nice glass of eggnog. No, wait. You need hot chocolate."

"There's no time for hot chocolate!" He scowled around at the group. "There's been an outbreak at the lab, and you three seem to be the only employees still in town!"


	4. Chapter 4: Through Snow and Ice

Chapter 4: Through Snow and Ice

"An outbreak?" William asked, gaping at him in horror. "Oh no—my research! What if something happens and we have to blow up the lab?"

"No one was working there, so it should be limited to the test subjects."

"Blow up?" Sherry asked. "Test subjects? What's going on?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. The last thing he wanted was for her to start learning Umbrella's secrets now, on Christmas of all days. He grimaced. "Sherry, why don't you go into the living room for a minute?"

She looked even more worried. "Daddy? What's going on?"

Vincent smirked. "Aren't you going to answer your daughter? Should _I_ answer her?"

He glared at him. "This is not a good time, Vincent…"

"I'll stay here to be with Sherry," Annette offered.

"No," Spencer said, "you will be coming to help. Get your coat. Now!"

"That's not fair!" William protested, as he followed her so that he could get his own coat as well. He then went to the cabinet where he kept their guns locked up, in case they ever needed them. This looked like that time. "Christmas is a time for families!"

"A potential outbreak is more important than being with your family! You—Birkin! What did you do?"  
>"What?" he turned around, surprised by the outburst, and saw that Spencer was giving him an even more murderous look than before. He wondered if he had found out about the out-of-control office party he had inadvertently started.<p>

"It's going back! I don't know what you think you—"

"Excuse me." Wesker stepped past him and picked up the box he had put Sherry's present in. He closed up the top and put it back inside his lab coat. Then he walked back towards the door as Spencer gaped at him in disbelief. The CEO looked like he was thinking about hitting him with the sharp end of his cane.

"And we wonder how these outbreaks start!"

"Sherry, I'm very sorry we have to leave you on Christmas," Annette said, hugging her daughter.

"This is excellent, Sherry!" Claudia shouted, walking over to them. She lifted her arms into the air in a gesture of triumph. "With the nonbelievers gone, we can begin your education right away!"

Vincent whistled. "Wow, what a decision. To stay, or to go… Claudia's preaching, or the T-virus…"

"The T-virus?" Sherry asked. "Someone, please tell me what's going on…"

"I'll tell you," Wesker said, walking towards her.

William stepped in between them. "Oh no you won't."

"That's a good note to leave on," Spencer said, pointedly opening the door and stepping outside.

Sherry started to cry.

"It's all right," he said, hugging her and glaring at everyone else. All she had wanted was to spend Christmas with her parents, and one by one, they had ruined it. "We just have to go back to work for a little bit, but don't worry. We'll be back before you know it!"

Once she had calmed down, he stood up, and Annette grabbed his arm almost immediately and pulled him away from the group. "We can't let that madwoman stay here with Sherry!"

He shrugged. "I guess she's coming with us, then."

They informed Claudia of this, and she lifted her head haughtily and told them that they could not force her to go anywhere. After arguing for quite some time, he looked around helplessly. Sherry was watching them curiously, and Vincent was leaning against the wall with a look on his face like he might start making helpful comments. Wesker was watching impassively.

From outside, Spencer shouted, "It's cold out here! Hurry up!"

Claudia sniffed. "You three had better leave, lest your leader murder you with that frightful cane he's carrying."

"We're not leaving unless you go with us!"

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"We're wasting too much time," Wesker said, walking over to them. "Claudia. Aren't we a blight on the earth, or something like that? We're giving you an opportunity to get into one of Umbrella's secret labs."

"True…" She frowned at him suspiciously and then nodded. "Very well."

He leaned towards William and whispered, "If you tell Spencer about my part in this, I'll kill you."

He sighed, thinking to himself that Spencer was probably going to kill them all when he realized they were bringing a guest.

"You'll need to wear shoes," Annette pointed out.

"I will not."

"If we're walking across town in a blizzard, yes, you will."

"A priestess sometimes has to suffer for her people."

Vincent mimed shooting himself in the head, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Besides, I'm sure we won't be walking. Someone will drive at an urgent time like this."

The four of them walked to the door, and she stopped dead. Glancing outside, William could tell that no one was going to be driving anywhere, no matter how urgent it was. The snow had risen so high that he couldn't even see his car. In fact, he couldn't see much of anything. There was a narrow path leading away from the house, about just wide enough for Spencer to have walked through, and everything else was white.

And the snow was still falling.

"I think," Claudia said, "that I will have to make a sacrifice and wear some shoes."

xXx

As they walked through the path, which Spencer had apparently chopped out with his axe all the way from the spot where the car had gotten stuck, William could see that the snow was very heavy, packed so tightly together that it looked almost like a solid mass. He wondered if they would be able to walk on top if they tried.

Annette looked around and burrowed deeper into her winter jacket. The wind was fierce, sending the falling snow flying with such force that it stung. He had known Wesker long enough that he could tell he was only pretending to not be cold.

"No one will have to suffer like this in Paradise," Claudia announced, looking around as if she thought that news alone might earn the Order new converts.

Spencer twisted his head around to look. "…Who is she?"

"Only fair weather and mild temperatures?" Wesker asked, smirking at her. "Why don't you let us see some of that now?"

She drew herself up, looking affronted. "You act as if Paradise is a parlor trick. It is nothing to joke about. The time is coming soon when Alessa will lead us to salvation with bloodstained hands!"

"Oh great, here they go again," Annette muttered. William exchanged a look with her and shrugged.

"Who _is_ she?"

Wesker raised his eyebrows. "Bloodstained hands? What, is this Alessa going to single-handedly kill everyone who doesn't belong in your perfect world?"

"Do not mock Alessa!" she shouted, looking like she might strike him for that insult. "Alessa has been stolen from us, but when she returns, she will remember everything! She will remember how she longed for Paradise…how this is her true legacy… Alessa will birth God!"

"WHO IS SHE?"

Claudia frowned at him. "Weren't you listening? I just explained, Alessa is—"

"No, not Alessa." Spencer stopped walking and brandished his cane at her. "Who are _you, _and what are you doing here?"

"This is Claudia," William said, having a horrible feeling that she would explain that she was hoping to destroy Umbrella for the benefit of mankind—or whatever she had in mind; he wasn't entirely sure himself—and trying to avert that. "She's a priestess."

"Of the Order," Annette added.

"A cult in the town of Silent Hill," Wesker explained.

Claudia nodded. "And I'm coming to—"

"Help," William quickly finished for her. "She's coming to help. We thought we would need all the help we could get."

"And because we didn't want her alone with Sherry."

"But Vincent is a troublemaker, so we left him at home." He looked at Annette, suddenly wondering if leaving Vincent with Sherry was such a good idea after all.

The snow was starting to pile up around their feet, so they continued moving along the path as Spencer said, "Non-employees are not allowed to help contain an outbreak."

"But she can't go back to the house!" Annette protested.

"And I can't go home to Silent Hill or anywhere else, because I can't get through the snow unless you lend me that rather violent-looking implement."

"Why is this our problem?" Spencer asked. "In a storm like this, one death would be seen as an accident."

She lunged at him. "You vile, despicable man! You will burn in _Hell_!"

William grabbed the back of her robes and pulled her back before she got herself murdered. "Really, on Christmas? Can't we just make an exception this once?"

They both glared at him, and he smiled sheepishly. Perhaps he shouldn't have mentioned the holiday.

Annette said, "We also don't want a body lying in a path that leads directly to our house."

Spencer scowled at them. William couldn't remember when he had last seen him in a mood this bad. "Fine. We don't have time to argue. But I'm holding you three responsible for her!" He began stomping down the path again, chopping at the snow wherever it had drifted in.

"What?" Claudia asked. "Does he think I'm a child who will do something foolish and die if I'm not supervised?"

"No," William said, "I think he meant it more in the sense of 'If you start spreading stories about what you see in the lab, Umbrella will be down three employees.'"

"Madman!" she hissed, and that was the end of the conversation.

By the time they reached the end of the path, William understood why Spencer was in such a bad mood. The air was bitter, and after walking for so long, he could no longer feel the stinging snowflakes…or his arms or legs, for that matter. Trudging through the snow was difficult, as it kept piling and drifting in the wind, and it had become an automatic movement that only had the benefit of not being the alternative, which was collapsing. And they still weren't done.

Now that they had reached the spot Spencer had been at when the roads became impossible to drive on, they would have to create a new path to make it to the lab. He started to chop away at the snow, which in this area was packed so tightly it might as well as been ice. A few chunks came out of the snowy wall, and then he stopped. "Why am I the one doing all the work?"

"Well," Claudia said, managing a cool tone despite her chattering teeth, "I would have assumed it's because that thing is on the end of a cane, and you need it to walk."

He glared at her and then handed the cane to Wesker. "Chop. I'm sitting down for a while." He sat on a pile of snow near the edge of the path.

Wesker looked like he was considering chopping something other than the snow, but when Claudia gave him an approving nod, he frowned at her and started working on the new path.

"Are priestesses allowed to be that bloody-minded?" Annette asked.

"In the Order, it's probably a requirement," William muttered.

Claudia sniffed. "When God comes, She will purge the world of men like him. As Her servants, we can help her along when we deem it necessary."

"I'm just sitting down; I haven't gone out of earshot, you know!"

She shook her head at him and then walked over to where Wesker was painstakingly hacking at the ice. William wondered if she had a death wish, or if she just couldn't stand still without provoking someone. Maybe she really thought she could convert one of them. He wasn't sure how much of her insanity was well-intentioned.

"You cut the ice like an executioner."

"…What?"

"The way you wield the axe, it is like you are executing someone. Are you a very angry person, or do thoughts of bringing death just appeal to you?"

"Would you like to take over?" he asked, turning and holding out the cane.

She shook her head. "No, but I was wondering if you would like to hear more about the Order. You might do well as a priest of the Valtiel sect."

"Yeah, maybe I could help with that 'bloodstained hands' part," he said, as he swung the cane and ice flew.

William could tell he was being sarcastic, but apparently Claudia could not.

"Yes… I am interested in seeing this lab for that reason, as well. God must be nurtured with suffering and hate, so that She will be sympathetic to our pain."

"Sound logic there," Annette muttered.

Spencer was staring at Claudia like he wasn't quite sure what to make of her. Wesker had just gone back to forging a path.

After a few minutes, they had enough of a way cleared that they could continue forward to join Wesker at the end of the new path. It was now getting narrower, as much of the snow was falling to the ground, and the storm kept sending more down. Spencer promptly found another pile of snow to sit on, and Annette did as well this time. William walked over and held out his hand.

"I'll chop for a while."

Wesker handed over the axe, and he went to work. The snow was harder than he expected, and he almost regretted making the offer so quickly. What made it worse was that he could barely feel his fingers, making it hard to grip the axe properly. Still, once he got going, it went faster, although he had to occasionally kick away snow from around his feet. He had to change directions once, to keep going in the right direction, and that was a tricky piece of maneuvering, but he continued working until Annette offered to take a turn.

She cut away at the snow for a while then, with the rest of them following whenever she had made enough progress. While she worked on that, William climbed up the side of the snow wall along the side of the path to see if it really was strong enough to walk across. He made it a few feet, and then the snow caved in beneath his feet. Trapped in a snow bank, he shouted for help and twisted around, trying to regain his footing. That proved to be nearly impossible, and he struggled there until the axe burst through the snow and Annette dug him out. He didn't try anything else after that.

After a while, Wesker took the axe back, since it was clear that no one else wanted another turn. "At this rate, we'll never get there in time to contain the outbreak," he muttered as he stared at the ever-growing field of snow blocking their way.

"All that will be able to save us then is God," Claudia pointed out.

"Just drag Alessa to the outbreak and let the zombies wreak all that pain and suffering you need?"

"Monster! Alessa was like my own sister!" She folded her hands. "I will do what I must to fill her heart with hate, but not to that extent!"

William sighed and wondered how what had started as a good day had gone downhill so quickly. He wished he could feel his legs.

At last, their path reached the waste disposal plant, and he couldn't have been more relieved. Spencer warned them that he hadn't been inside yet and didn't know what the exact situation was, but William didn't care. Facing an outbreak seemed better than facing the cold any longer. Wesker opened the door, and they all hurried into the relative warmth—and froze.

"Did we make a wrong turn?" Annette asked, blinking around at the room they found themselves in.

Christmas trees were everywhere, all sparkling with lights and tinsel, some with presents beneath them and others in clusters, some with lights that flashed and others with holiday messages in every color; the result was the appearance of having walked into a psychedelic forest where the first floor of the lab used to be. The walls were covered in garland and lit-up snowflakes. The stairs were barely visible, as an inflatable snowman was right beside them, along with a puddle of water that indicated it had had a real counterpart at one point.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Claudia bend down and take off her borrowed shoes.

"What part of 'abandoned factory' is so hard to understand?" Spencer asked, as they descended the stairs to find their way to the main lab.

"Santa's elves set up shop in the abandoned factory," William said, before he actually considered how that would sound.

"…What?"

"That's just what they told me," he mumbled, adding quickly, "I had no part in this. They just kept telling me what they were doing. I didn't know how to stop them!"

At the bottom of the stairs, they stopped again. This area featured the elves. Motorized and painted in bright colors, their feet were attached to a series of tracks that covered the floor. Holding presents, the elves zipped around the room, occasionally stopping at pieces of machinery. Everything, floor, ceiling, and walls included, had been covered in red and green wrapping paper.

"Well," Wesker said, and then stopped as though he didn't know what to follow that up with.

William looked around. "There _used_ to be an elevator…"

Claudia sniffed. "I'm surprised we didn't have to break in through the sewers."

"Is that how you get to your church?" Wesker asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Annette suddenly hissed and held up her hand. "Quiet! I heard something!"

The elves were making enough of a racket that it was hard to imagine any noise cutting through, but as they stood there, ready for anything, he heard it too: an unfamiliar noise over the sound of the elves, as though behind all the machinery, something was moving.

xXx

"Sherry, are you as bored as I am?"

She looked up from where she had been watching her train go around and around the tree. Vincent was sitting on the couch, with the tankard of eggnog right beside him. It was almost empty. Sherry glanced up at the clock. It had already been an hour since the others had left. She worried about what was going on; she had never heard them talk that way before.

After they had left, Vincent had tried to cheer her up. First they sang carols, then they ate cookies, then they looked for something entertaining on television, then she made him turn off the television because she wasn't allowed to watch that kind of movie, then he suggested they open her presents, then she yelled at him that she would open her presents when her parents were home, and then they began respectively staring at the model train and drinking eggnog.

"Bored? Yeah…"

He jumped up, and she watched him warily. He looked like he had lost his mind a little bit. First he paced in front of the couch. Then he walked around in a circle. Finally, he clapped his hands together and beamed at her.

"Father Vincent…? What are you doing…?"

"I am having the most magnificent brainstorm ever," he said, holding out his hands as if to indicate the extent of the brainstorm. "This is a phenomenal idea. We won't be bored, we won't be worrying… in short, it'll save our Christmas!"

She turned off her train and stood. "What is it?"

"We are going to Silent Hill!"

"We are?" she asked, suddenly worried. "But…"

"Don't worry! You'll be with me; it'll be perfectly safe. You can finally get to see the town, and maybe you'll even learn a thing or two that'll help you the next time Claudia starts pestering you, eh?"

"But…aren't the roads so bad we'll have to walk?"

He winked and walked over to the phone as she trailed him. He dug through the drawer until he found the phonebook. "Well, as I was sitting there, drinking eggnog and pondering Methuselah's predicament—"

"Methu-who?"

"Err…never mind. The important part is that the reason they had to walk is because they just didn't have the right vehicle!" He flipped through the phonebook and then picked up the phone, rapidly dialing a number. "Hello! I'd like to rent a snowplow…"


	5. Chapter 5: Christmas Like Never Before

Chapter 5: Christmas Like Never Before

"Father Vincent?" Sherry asked in a tiny voice, staring out at the vehicle sitting in front of the house, where he had hastily shoveled away the snow that had mounded up after its approach. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Of course!" It _was_ a rather small plow, and the driver had looked relieved to be leaving it behind and going on foot, but he was sure it would get them to Silent Hill just fine. "You don't want to sit here and be bored, do you?"

She looked like she was thinking she might want to at that, but then she shook her head and got into the passenger side.

"All right, let's see how this thing works now…" At her alarmed look, he quickly said, "Kidding!" and began experimenting with the blade of the plow. "Believe it or not, it's been a long time since I plowed. Although sometimes in Silent Hill, you end up with these massive gaps in the road that you can just push the snow into… Don't worry, I'm just joking."

She looked reassured, or at least he told himself she did, and with a smile, he started up the plow. The man who had brought it had come roughly along the road, so now there was at least a visible starting point. He had just driven from Silent Hill that day, so he thought he would be able to find the roads well enough. If not, well, people would just think any damage had been done by the people actually plowing.

He thought his plan was an excellent one, and not just because he was bored. He wasn't too confident in the competence of the merry little band that had left the house, and if the T-virus spread all across Raccoon City, he intended to be elsewhere. The Birkins would thank him for taking their daughter to relative safety, too, or at least they would if they survived the outbreak.

He chuckled to himself. And Annette thought it was such a bad thing that he knew what the Umbrella Corporation did in those labs.

"What so funny?" Sherry asked.

He stopped laughing. He didn't think it would be a good idea to tell her the truth, or she'd start asking questions. Telling her about the T-virus might be amusing when she got older, but not now; he'd feel guilty making a little girl cry. Plus William would kill him. That was another thing—he knew enough about Umbrella that he didn't want to make them too angry.

"I just remembered a joke," he said instead.

"Can I hear it?"

He silently groaned. He had been hoping she wouldn't ask that. Now he had to think of a joke. More importantly, he had to think of a joke appropriate for a girl her age to hear. Then again, there was another way he could handle the situation.

"No," he said, and returned his full attention to driving.

xXx

William aimed his gun at the direction of the sound. His hand was shaking, and he hoped no one noticed. He really didn't like this.

"All right," Annette whispered, getting out her own gun, "let's just quietly—"

"Come out, accursed fiend!" Claudia shouted.

Bringing her along was starting to seem like a very bad idea. The strange noise came again, and then a shape moved in the corner, moving past the crowd of elves. He strained to see what it was…

Wesker shot it, and it fell to the floor with a great deal of _clanging_, _clanking_, and other noises not typically associated with viral outbreaks of any kind. Part of it fell across the closest track, and an elf shooting by knocked it into the open. They stared down at the fried circuitry of what had previously been a mechanical reindeer.

"How did they get all this done in a single morning?" Spencer yelled. He stomped off in the direction the elevator had once been and began hitting the wrapping paper-covered walls with his cane.

William glanced over at Annette. "Okay, so you were right. Vincent's ideas always lead to trouble."

"Vincent had a hand in this?" Claudia asked, giving him a sharp look.

He nodded unhappily. "Yeah, he just thought we should have a lively office party…"

"One day, that man is going to go too far…"

"Why am I the only one looking for the elevator?"

The rest of them joined Spencer, and within minutes, they had torn down the wrapping paper hiding the elevator doors. A press of the button opened the doors, and Claudia had taken two steps forward before Annette grabbed her arm and yanked her back. A body was lying in the elevator. It was covered in Christmas garland, but when it stood up, he saw that it had decaying flesh and dead eyes. It lurched towards them with a groan.

William pointed his gun at it and wondered distantly what was up with the garland. What had happened to the lab after he had talked to Vincent on the phone? They better not have touched his experiments…

Wesker shot the zombie until it fell down and said, "I can't be the only one shooting, you know."

"You've shot one zombie and a robot; it's a bit early to be complaining," Claudia said.

"Careful, or I might make a terrible misjudgment."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're pale enough to look like a corpse, Claudia…"

"Fiend!"

William interrupted them, saying, "We had better take the body down with us. At the very least, we can quarantine them down in the lab." After all, it wasn't at all a good idea to leave those things lying around.

So, they shoved the body back into the elevator and piled in with it. Annette pressed the button to take them down, the doors closed, and the elevator began to move. She opened her mouth and started to talk, but then noise blasted them from all directions.

"_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock…_"

They all jumped. William twisted his head around, trying to find the source of the music. He didn't remember having a sound system in the elevator.

Spencer located a speaker and hit it with his cane. The music stopped… but the scientists who had wired it had apparently considered that possibility and installed fake speakers, because against all logic, the song restarted and got louder. He threw his hands up and muttered something about having found new test subjects.

The music stopped just as the elevator doors opened on the next floor down. After a brief argument over who was going to drag the corpse around until they could quarantine it, William found himself grabbing one end while Annette got the other. Just in case this particular strain of the virus could be transmitted through the air, he held his breath.

"There seems to be a fatal flaw in our plan," Claudia said, as they walked down the hallway. "We number three scientists, only one of whom looks like he knows how to use a gun, a priestess, and an ol—"

"Genius."

"…And we're going to take care of this outbreak by ourselves?"

"Yes," Wesker said. "Any other questions?"

"Just one. Why is William turning blue?"

xXx

"So this is Silent Hill," Sherry said. She wished she could actually see it. Snow covered the ground except where they had pushed it out of their way with the plow. As a result, huge mounds obscured the buildings in several areas. It was no longer snowing, but she could only see a few feet in front of her due to the fog.

Vincent clapped his hands together. "Yes, here we are! Now, what sounds like fun to you? Want to see the church?"

She wasn't sure if he meant the church of the Order or a church that normal people—she was sure there had be some of them there—went to, but in her mind, "church" and "Silent Hill" formed a bad combination.

"No."

He continued driving the plow, and she continued squinting through the fog to see if she could see anything interested.

"What about the hospital? It's traditional to come to Silent Hill and visit the hospital."

She glanced at him, wondering if he was joking. "I'd rather not visit the hospital unless I have to…"

"Fine, suit yourself…"

The drive to Silent Hill had taken some time, and she wondered how her parents and the others were doing. Maybe by now they had already taken care of the outbreak—what did that even mean?—and were on their way home. She didn't want them to come home and find her missing. They might get upset, especially since they didn't seem to entirely trust Vincent.

And unless it started snowing again, the road where they had driven—and the areas of land where they had missed the road—would still be cleared off from their trip. They could make good time getting home. She was just about to suggest to him that they turn around when he snapped his fingers.

"I got it! The amusement park!"

"Silent Hill has an amusement park?" she asked, surprised. She had always thought of it as just a little town full of crazy people.

"Of course! Everyone loves the Lakeside Amusement Park!"

"Well, I don't know," she said, glancing back at the way they had come.

Vincent snickered. "Aw, don't tell me a girl like you is afraid of an amusement park."

"Afraid?" She folded her arms and frowned at him. "No, I just thought maybe we should be going back…"

"It's okay," he said. "A lot of people are scared of amusement parks."

"I am not!"

"Just let me turn the plow around…"

Annoyed, she glared at him. "I am not afraid! We're going to the amusement park!"

With a grin, he continued driving.

xXx

Having stepped over wires, Christmas lights, and other assorted decorations until they found a suitable place to put the bodies, they had since encountered, destroyed, and stored two more zombies, and William was starting to feel exhausted. It wasn't just that some of the zombies had been wearing Santa hats, or that he was afraid Spencer's muttered death threats were eventually going to include him. It wasn't just the sense of constant danger, either.

It was all of those things, as well as his terror about what they might find when they reached his main laboratory. He also had a growing concern about what Vincent might be telling Sherry, and he wanted nothing more than to go home and be with her. The festive atmosphere was getting to him, too.

And Claudia wasn't helping.

"—repent, I tell you! Places like this won't exist after God's return! She will purge the world of all its evil and return the faithful to Paradise, despoiled by mankind!"

"Are you sure you've got that last part right?" Wesker asked.

She glared at him. "I beg your pardon?"

"Look, wouldn't it be easier to just say you're saving the world and be done with it?"

She lunged and grabbed him by the front of his lab coat. "I do not have the power to save the world; only God can do that!"

"You're a lunatic."

"You're a heathen!"

Spencer wondered out loud, "Why did we bring her, again?"

"This is just my opinion," Annette said, "but could we not make such a racket until we know we have the outbreak contained?"

William was about to agree with her, but before he could say anything, they turned around the corner and came face to face with… "A sleigh?"

It was huge, taking up the hallway so completely that it was impossible to walk any further. The sleigh itself was painted green, and Christmas lights twinkled all along it. Up in front, he could see that mechanical reindeer were attached to it. The reins curled up into a lever and control panel on the front of the sleigh. He stared at it in shock for some time before a conversation from that morning trickled back into his mind. It brought a headache with it.

"Oh no," he said. "This must be what they meant when they said they were working on a holiday transport system. I didn't think they could get it done in time; it wasn't here when I left!"

"You mean this is the only way through the lab now?" Annette asked.

Wesker cleared his throat. "You can also climb through the elevator shaft, as it is connected to the Advent Calendar they installed in the ceiling."

They all stared at him.

"What? You didn't think I left the lab by riding in the sleigh, did you?"

They stood there for about a minute longer before Spencer snapped, "All right, everyone in the sleigh. We're getting this over with. Someone help me up."

William helped him into the sleigh and stared at the control panel. While it certainly wasn't a normal sleigh, it didn't look like any other vehicle he had ever driven, either. If anything, the panel looked more like it belonged in an elevator. He supposed you had to press the button for the room you wanted, and then it would take you there. The lever had a tiny plaque beneath it that read _On/Off._

Annette muttered, "I have the feeling they had this in mind for a long, long time, and the party made them just crazy enough to go through with it…"

Spencer pulled down the lever, and a mechanized voice came from the control panel.

"Seasons greetings! This year, Santa Claus visited the Umbrella Corporation and seems to have left behind his sleigh. Thank you for making use of it. If you wish to travel to another area of the lab, please answer the following question. When did Good King Wenceslas look out?"

His headache felt like it was getting worse.

"What does that even mean?" Claudia asked, looking at the control panel as if it had personally insulted her.

"It's a song," Annette said. When they all looked at her, she sighed. "Good King Wenceslas, the song? Anyway, the answer is 'on the feast of Stephen.'" She repeated that phrase to the control panel. Nothing happened. After a moment, she leaned closer and sang, "On the feast of Stephen!" blushing scarlet as she did so.

The sleigh shot off along the tracks.

"We didn't even choose a location!" Spencer yelled.

William hammered the button for the experimentation lab, and it lit up. As the button flashed green and red, the mechanized voice said, "The experimentation lab. Thank you, and ho ho ho." The sleigh started going faster, turning a corner so fast that sparks flew from the tracks.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any more surreal, Carol of the Bells started playing.

xXx

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Sherry asked nervously from beside him. "What do you mean, 'uh-oh'?"

"Uh, nothing." Vincent put the snowplow into reverse and backed up as quickly as he could, not stopping until he was far enough away that the fog would prevent her from seeing the massive chasm in the road in front of them. "We're just going to find an alternate way to the amusement park. The road is, uh, bad."

"Oh."

He breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't questioned how the road could be any worse than the ones they had driven on from Raccoon City. He was starting to wish he hadn't goaded her into demanding that they continue on to the amusement park. While not as boring as sitting back at the house, this adventure was starting to wear on his nerves.

"We aren't going to get there, are we?" she asked.

"Of course we are!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his map of Silent Hill. He kept one with him at all times, because traveling around the town could get a little dicey. Then there were the days when he needed to search for the keys that could get him through the secret entrances, and it always helped to have a map in those cases. "Perfect. If we cut through these buildings right here, we'll come out in the amusement park!"

He turned off the plow, got out, and tromped through the snow until he reached the buildings in question. They looked like apartments.

Sherry hurried after him. "Wait, we can just go through buildings like that?"

He spread his arms with a smile. "Hey, if they aren't locked…" He tested the door. It opened easily, and he nodded to her. Still looking a little wary, she stepped inside. He followed, feeling pretty good about himself. Now things were really getting interesting.

The first thing he noticed was that the lights were out. When the door closed behind them, it left them in complete darkness. "Not to worry," he assured Sherry, reaching around for the light switch. There had to be one around here somewhere. He was certain most buildings had a light switch near the door. Nevertheless, as he fumbled around, he felt nothing but the wall. "Give me a minute to find the switch…"

"Maybe if you opened the door, you'd have enough light to find it!"

That was a surprisingly good idea. He wished he had thought of it himself, instead of having an eight-year-old tell him. He found the doorknob and twisted it. Nothing happened. He stopped and tried to orient himself in the darkness. He hadn't taken enough steps to be by one of the apartment doors. It had to be the right door. He tried the doorknob again. It didn't budge at all. He ran his fingers along the door until he found the locking mechanism. It was unlocked.

"Father Vincent?" Sherry's voice sounded small and worried. "Is everything all right?"

"Oh, just fine," he said, laughing nervously. He slammed his shoulder into the door, and did more damage to his shoulder than anything else. "See if you can find the light switch, will you?" Grimacing in pain, he kicked the door. Annette was going to kill him.

As he hopped around and tried to ignore his hurting foot, he thought about his options. He could pick the lock, if he had enough light to see by, and if the door was actually locked, which it wasn't. That idea was out. As far as he knew, no one had ever figured out a way around the jammed door problem. He could continue slamming into it, but he didn't see that doing much good. William was going to kill him, too.

"Father Vincent?"

He suddenly realized that it was brighter in the room than he had remembered. In fact, he could see the door and the wall now, which had been the original problem. "Oh, you found the lights?" he asked, inwardly sighing with relief. Now they could go to the amusement park as planned, or at least have enough light to find an alternate way back to the plow.

"No! Father Vincent, something's happening to the walls!"

He whirled around at the alarm in her voice. He couldn't tell where the light was coming from, but he saw right away what she meant about the walls. They were changing as he looked at them, blue wallpaper fading into a rusty red color. The floor and ceiling were undergoing a similar transformation.

"What's happening?"

He gave her a weak smile and tried the door one last time. It wasn't going to move. "Annette, Will, and Al are _all_ going to kill me, and Claudia will probably stab me just for good measure," he muttered under his breath. Then he grabbed Sherry's hand and started hurrying down the hallway, hoping they could find a way out of the Otherworld before it was too late.

xXx

The sleigh continued zooming through the lab, taking what seemed to be the most convoluted path possible. William was certain he could have walked there faster, but he didn't want to risk jumping out of the sleigh. They probably wouldn't stop it in time, and then it would run him over. Its _speed_ was certainly fast enough; he had seen several more sparks from the tracks. It was making him feel ill. Even worse were the times when it nearly went upside down. Claudia made the occasional comment about Paradise, as if that were going to help matters.

"You know," she said, "I haven't had to say anything snide for quite some time. Did we lose someone?"

William looked from her, to Annette, to Spencer, who threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "For crying out loud, where did he go?"

After going over recent events, they agreed that no one actually remembered Wesker getting into the sleigh. At least that meant it was unlikely he had jumped out somewhere.

"Do you think we should try to go back?" William asked.

Claudia snorted. "No."

"For once I agree with the interloper," Spencer said. "He has a gun; if he didn't get on the sleigh, that's his problem! We have a lab to take care of."

William edged closer to Annette, hoping she would protect him, or at least warn him, if those two decided they didn't like him anymore. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he smiled wanly. Then the sleigh screeched to a halt so quickly that he had to grab the seat so as not to go flying out.

The sleigh wished them a Merry Christmas as they got out and approached the experimentation lab. There was a note taped to the door with a microphone beneath it, and his heart sank as he read it.

_In honor of the holiday season, you can only get into the experimentation lab by singing "Feliz Navidad" in four-part harmony. Merry Christmas!_

"I forgot about that," he groaned.

"Birkin!"

"I wasn't involved!" he cried, trying to look innocent instead of panicked. "I just heard a rumor about it…"

"You heard a lot of rumors, didn't you?"

"Yes…"

"Four-part harmony?" Annette asked. "Does…does everyone here know Feliz Navidad?"

William froze and stared at her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Claudia counting to make sure there were only four of them.

"Why did he leave at a time like this?" Spencer demanded. He turned back towards the sleigh and the direction they had come, shouting, "_Wesker!_"

"It's no good," Annette said. "We can't just wait here and hope he'll come _and_ be willing to sing. There are four of us, so we've got to do it. I can sing soprano if we don't go too high."

"If anyone mentions this to anyone ever," Spencer said, "you will no longer work for Umbrella. Or anywhere else. Now, how does this song go?"

xXx

Sherry was starting to feel scared. The apartment building sure didn't look like any place she had ever seen before, and Vincent's reassurances that everything was fine seemed weak. For one thing, he was dragging her down the hallway at too fast a pace for everything to be fine.

She also kept thinking about what day it was. It was Christmas Eve, and time was passing. Strange things were happening, and strange things always happened in Christmas movies. Then there was what Claudia had been telling her. She liked to think the priestess was just crazy, but then again, she _was_ an adult.

"Father Vincent? Does…does Santa Claus visit Silent Hill?"

He laughed, but it sounded slightly hysterical. "Of all the things to ask…"

"Well does he?" she asked, a little more urgently now. She thought she could hear something following them. She didn't dare turn around. She just knew it was going to be a demon in a blood-red suit with a bag of toys for hitting her over the head with.

To her horror, Vincent stopped running.

She stopped as well, very reluctantly.

"Of course Santa Claus comes to Silent Hill! What, did you think Claudia had scared him away?" He started laughing, but she didn't see anything funny about it.

"Father Vincent! I think he's here now!"

He stopped laughing and looked at her like she was out of her mind. "Santa Claus is here now? In the Otherworld?"

"The what?" she asked, feeling even more worried. He hadn't mentioned that word before. She didn't even know what an Otherworld was, but it didn't sound good.

"Never mind. Why do you think Santa is here?"

"Because…" She slowly turned around. "I keep hearing…" She stopped. There was definitely something coming around the corner. And yes, it was wearing some sort of tattered, red suit. "I think he's following us," she whimpered.

She quickly looked back at Vincent. He had gone an odd color. "Sherry, this is going to sound like a strange question, and I wouldn't ask if we weren't in the Oth—if things weren't a little strange right now…but you don't have some sort of phobia of Santa Claus, do you?"

"I didn't used to, but today…" She trailed off, staring down the hall. Wicked looking claws extended from the sleeves of the red suit, and two glowing red eyes gleamed from within a tangle of hair on a misshapen face. "Father Vincent…"

He followed her gaze and yelled, "Holy God, what is that?" He grabbed her hand again and took off down the hallway.

She was more than happy to run, and she hoped he actually knew where they were going. "That's him! That's Santa Claus!"

"_That's_ Santa Claus?" Vincent let out another hysterical laugh. "You hug Al, and yet _that_ is what you think Santa is like? I have to have a long talk with your parents…"

"It's not their fault!" she protested, even though she didn't want to waste too much breath. "It was Ms. Claudia who told me that Santa Claus is a demon who will drag me down to Hell!"

"She _what_?" He made a strangled noise, and quickly pulled her around the next corner and up the stairs there. "Try to forget what she said. Please?"

She gave him a worried look. "You know where we're going, right? What if we can't get out of here? It'll catch us!"

"No! I'll think of how to get out of here! You just keep on telling yourself that Santa is a generous, jolly fat man, okay?"

She had no idea how he thought that would help, but she nodded. Generous, jolly fat man. She thought about greeting cards. She thought about television programs. She thought about movies.

And she tried very hard not to think about the fact that Vincent seemed to be choosing directions at random.

xXx

Once they took care of the experimentation lab, they got back in the sleigh, sang about Wenceslas to get it moving again, and went back with the bodies they had recovered. Spencer muttered the entire time, but William was just glad it looked like they could actually get the outbreak under control.

Making their way through the rest of the lab, they finally arrived at his main lab and got out. He swallowed nervously. He had been afraid they would have to sing again, but it was clear that wouldn't be necessary. The door was wide open.

The four of them crept over and carefully peeked inside. It looked normal enough. There didn't seem to be any zombies, any terrible messes, or even any Christmas decorations. It looked exactly the way it had when he had left it.

William heard a noise behind him and whirled around, raising his gun. Then he lowered it and raised his eyebrows.

Wesker dropped down from the ceiling and pointed above him. "December 12."

"Hurrah, he's not dead," Claudia said in a dull tone.

They walked into the lab, and everything abruptly changed. The lights went out, and Christmas lights flashed on. Mechanical elves like the ones they had seen earlier straightened up from where they had been folded against the floor. Spinning in gentle circles, they began singing, "Have a holly, jolly Christmas…" while Christmas lights against the far wall lit up to spell out the words, "Merry Christmas, William, you workaholic!"

"Excuse me," he said, mortified. "I think I'll guard the hallway."

He hurried back outside and stood by the sleigh, waiting there until the others finished going through the room and returned, with two zombie bodies in tow. They all looked as worn out as he had felt earlier, and he was glad he had gotten a chance to rest. He had also had a chance to think.

"As long as we make a quick trip to the main computer room," he said, "I think I can set everything up so that we can remotely destroy the bodies and the contagion, once we have them all in the same room, of course."

"You can?" Spencer asked. "Is that an authorized program?"

He decided it was in his best interests not to answer that question. "Better yet, the sleigh isn't blocking our path to that area. We can walk there."

They did just that, encountering only one more zombie along the way. Once inside the computer room, he saw that the only modifications here were Christmas lights strung along the tops of the computers. He went to the main system. Logging in using his personal username and password to sidestep the normal security procedures, he took the steps that he needed and then shut it down.

"It's all ready for my remote command," he said, stepping back with a smile of triumph.

"Good," Spencer said. "One problem. Will someone stop that woman before she learns everything about us?" He nodded to Claudia, who had gone to one of the other computers and seemed to be typing in rapid commands. She glanced over at them and started typing even faster.

Wesker walked over and cuffed the back of her head. "Stop that." Pushing past her, he started to shut down the computer. Then he rejoined the rest of them.

As they left the room, William started to follow, but then he stopped as he saw that Claudia was still standing by the computer. Her eyes were wide, and she looked a bit lost. He realized that she hadn't even said anything about having been forcibly removed from the computer.

"Claudia?" he asked. "Are you coming?"

She jumped and stared as though she were surprised to see him. "What? Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about my fa—I mean, Paradise, and I…I think I'll just stay here, thank you."

He stared at her for a moment longer and then stuck his head into the hallway. "Claudia says she's staying here!"

"Good," Spencer said, but Wesker looked over and Annette returned to the computer room.

"You can't stay here, Claudia!" she cried, frowning. "The lab isn't safe yet!"

"I know," she said. She lifted her head high, although she looked paler than usual. "I…as a priestess devoted to the return of God, I have to make sacrifices, and I—I will endure this nightmare in order to…"

"What is she going on about now?" Wesker asked, walking in. He looked annoyed.

She glared at him. "You… You!" She shook her head. "My suffering in this place will help me understand the suffering needed to nurture God and bring about Her return!"

"By being infected?" he demanded. "You won't do your God a bit of good if I have to put a bullet through your brain!"

"I… yes… I…" She walked swiftly towards them and swept out into the hallway, not meeting any of their gazes. "Perhaps I will leave after all."

As they followed her out, Spencer groaned from the sleigh, "What did you do that for? We finally were rid of her!"

Claudia snarled something about what an evil person he was as she climbed in, apparently restored to her usual good spirits. Annette shrugged and climbed in after her, and as William followed, he couldn't help but wonder what that had been all about. For a moment, it had seemed like the priestess had lost her spark.

Wesker climbed in as well, and Spencer gave him a sour look. "Why don't you climb down the elevator shaft again? And stay there?"

Leaning over to Annette, William whispered, "I can say one thing. I've never had a Christmas quite like this one before."


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Good-bye!" Vincent shouted, as the snowplow drove away. "Thank you! It worked wonderfully!"

Sherry looked back at her house in relief, happier to see it than she could ever remember being before. They had finally made it out of the apartment building—Vincent told her it had been a combination of her calm thoughts and his brilliant mind and quick wit—and then the world had gone back to normal. The monster chasing them had either disappeared or wandered off, and she no longer thought it was Santa Claus, anyway.

One thing she had known for sure, though, was that she had had enough of Silent Hill. He had heartily agreed, and instead of trying to make their way to the Lakeside Amusement Park, they had returned to the snowplow and driven out of town.

They went inside, but the house was empty. She slumped, feeling her worries from before they had left rising up again.

"I guess they're not back yet," she sighed. "I hope everything's all right…"

"Everything's fine! Come on, what should we do until they get back? Watch the train some more?"

She thought about that, but then she frowned, remembering the way he had talked her into agreeing to go to the amusement park. She wanted to do what _she_ wanted to do this time, especially since her dream Christmas wasn't coming true after all.

"I want to have a snowball fight."

"A what?"

"A snowball fight!"

He shrugged and agreed, and they went back outside into the snow. She threw snow at him and he responded in like fashion for some time, and soon she was laughing. Her worries weren't gone, but they had retreated to the back of her mind again. Playing out in the snow was too much fun.

"You don't know how to make a proper snowball, do you?" Vincent asked.

She looked at him. He was standing by a pile of snowballs that he had made. She looked down at her feet. She had mainly ended up just throwing handfuls of snow. "No," she admitted.

"Come here, and I'll teach you."

She approached him warily, in case this was another one of his ideas that would lead to trouble. However, he seemed to honestly just want to teach her how to make a good snowball, so she plopped down in the snow and followed his instructions as he talked about packing the snow together.

Before long, she had a pile of her own snowballs at her feet. They were smaller than his, since she had littler hands, but she felt quiet proud of the accomplishment.

"Great!" He smirked. "Now, if you want to do well in a real snowball fight, you have to learn how to throw them. Let me see you throw a snowball."

Shrugging, she picked up one of her new snowballs and threw it. It landed a few feet away.

"No, no, no! You need to have force behind it! Like this!" He picked up a snowball and chucked it down the street. She stared in amazement at how far it went, and how fast it traveled. "You try it. Throw that snowball like you mean it!"

"Like this?" she asked. She picked up another one of her snowballs, raised her hand, and threw it as hard as she could down the street, trying to put all of her strength behind it. As it sailed away, she fell back in the snow with a cheer.

A _smack_ came from down the road, and Vincent said, "Uh-oh, I hope you didn't…"

"Didn't what?" She sat up. "Father Vincent?"

He stared down the street, mouth open slightly, and then he shook her hand. "Well, I have to go, sorry; it was nice knowing you—I mean, it was nice seeing you! Bye!" And with that, he raced away in the other direction, kicking up snow as he went.

Sherry stared after him in bewilderment and then shrugged. At least she could practice making and throwing snowballs on her own until her parents returned. She picked up another snowball, prepared to throw it…

And stopped, as Wesker came into view, wiping snow from his face and glaring at no one in particular. He looked at her and then at the snowball in her hand. She put down the snowball and waved.

"Hi, Mr. Wesker!"

He stared at her and then smiled. "Hello, Sherry."

She wondered if something had happened at the lab to make him give such a fake-looking smile. She was just about to ask him, and then see if he wanted to watch her throw snowballs, when her parents came into view. She ran to them.

"You're back!"

William beamed. "We are! Albert, do you want to spend the rest of Christmas with us?"

"No."

As he turned away, Annette shouted after him, "Merry Christmas!" which he acknowledged with a wave of his hand.

"What happened at the lab?" Sherry asked. She wondered if she should tell them about her adventures at Silent Hill.

Her parents exchanged glances, and Annette laughed in a way that reminded her of what Vincent had been doing in the apartment building.

"Let's not talk about that now," her father said. "Let's go in and celebrate Christmas together, all right? Just the three of us. And this time, nothing will disturb us."

"Really?"

"Really. Merry Christmas."

And the three of them walked back into the house together, a normal family when it mattered the most.

Merry Christmas!


End file.
